Who knows the Ockolocoochee River? No, not the Ochlockonee River; that’s a bit to the west.
You do know the Ockolocoochee River as the Little River, of the Withlacoochee, of the Suwannee.
Here is news from 1889 that also includes the boat that didn’t survive from Troupville to Ellaville, which was apparently not a paddlewheel steamer. Continue reading
Update 2024-01-14: Video: Fannie Gibbs Begins WWALS Webinars 2024-01-11.
Hahira, Georgia, December 26, 2023 — WWALS Webinars is a new monthly series of lunchtime talks via zoom about topics related to the Suwannee River Basin.
On Thursday, January 11, 2024, from noon to 1PM, we are starting with Fannie Marie Jackson Gibbs of Brooks County, Georgia, long active in issues near the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers, especially involving African-American family history. She will talk about the ongoing sewage problems in Quitman, the annual Juneteenth celebrations she organizes at Reed Bingham State Park Lake where WWALS brings boats, family history, and anything else she wants to discuss.
![[Fannie Gibbs in a boat at Reed Bingham State Park, Junteenth 2020]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-11--wwals-webinar-gibbs/many.jpg)
Fannie Gibbs in a boat at Reed Bingham State Park, Junteenth 2020
“We thank Fannie Gibbs for speaking at WWALS River Revue 2023 in September, and we welcome her back to speak longer in this first WWALS Webinar,” said WWALS President Sara Jay Jones.
“I’m honored to have worked with Fannie for many years, and I hope you will all zoom in to hear what she has to say,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAuf-igpjsuG9JKDeCUtmqgxujGcIkFZIz3 Continue reading
Update 2025-06-28: Plastic bag bans keep trash out of rivers and the sea –a study in Science 2025-06-19.
The Crying Indian was Italian, and that ad was paid for by the producers of single-use trash, to shift blame onto individuals. Here’s what can be done about that trash.
Sure people shouldn’t litter, but Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers, as well as Nestlé, Coca Cola, and Walmart, should stop making and selling disposable bottles and cans.
![[Single-use trash, The fake Crying Indian, and what can be done about that]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-23--real-trash-problem/many.jpg)
Single-use trash, The fake Crying Indian, and what can be done about that
Fifty years ago those things had deposits on them, and people would collect them for the cash. That could be useful to a lot of people, and a lot more cleanups would happen. Sure, there was still trash back then, but not as much.
People still do in Hawaii and nine other states: California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont, plus Guam. They don’t have nearly as big of a litter problem.
But Georgia or Florida do not have such container deposits. Maybe we should change that.
No, recycling will not solve this problem. There’s no market for plastic to recycle, and recycling has been pushed by big oil for years as an excuse to make more plastic throw-away containers. Laura Sullivan, NPR, 11 September 2020, How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled.
You’ve probably seen the famous ‘Crying Indian’ ad from 1971:
A Keep America Beautiful advertisement by the Ad Council, which was launched in 1971. (Ad Council) – Original Credit: (HANDOUT)
Well, the “Indian” was Italian-American, and that ad was part of a campaign by the trash-producer front group Keep America Beautiful. Continue reading
Most of it was legacy trash from Valdosta, but there was less trash downstream on the Withlacoochee River than last time.
The trash jams we previously cleaned up had not accumulated as much, and we did not find as many new ones, from Knights Ferry to Clyattville-Nankin Boat Ramps.
Thanks to Russell Allen McBride for leading this cleanup, and to all the others who helped.
![[Trash canoes, trash pickers, creek, etc. KF to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-08-05--kf-nankin-withlacoochee-cleanup-pictures/many.jpg)
Trash canoes, trash pickers, creek, etc. KF to Nankin Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2023-08-05
Here’s a WWALS video playlist of some high points:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKwQ5xfKf-QyVkD0g7psED1GhTRUZ63no&si=OGTmLnmlNCgWw4yW Continue reading
Update 2023-01-19: Try again: Langdale Park to Sugar Creek Chainsaw Cleanup, Withlacoochee River 2024-01-27.
Rescheduled due to water too high, temperature too cold, and rain too likely.
Come help us remove some deadfalls that are impeding canoe and kayak paddling. There are probably also new ones after Hurricane Idalia. And maybe we won’t get rained out this time.
Bring a chainsaw if you really know how to use it. Or a handsaw, or sawzall.
But you do not have to use any kind of saw to join us.
When: Gather 9 AM, launch 9:30 AM, end 1 PM, Sunday, January 21, 2024
Put In: Langdale Park Boat Ramp
GPS: 30.88747, -83.32395
![[IG: Easy and hard deadfalls 2021-05-15 for 2024-01-27]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-01-27--langdale-park-sugar-creek-chainsaw-cleanup/igmany.jpg)
Easy and hard deadfalls 2021-05-15 for 2024-01-27
Join us on The Spotlight Show on https://talk921.com at 6 PM, Thursday, December 7, 2023.
Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman and “Diamond” Jim Halter will talk about upcoming outings such as this weekend’s campout at Griffis Fish Camp where naturalist C.B. Adams will tell us old-timey stories before we paddle the next day from the Okefenokee Swamp down the Suwannee River.
![[Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-07--radio-jim-halter/many.jpg)
Spotlight Show on Talk 92.1 FM, C.B. Adams at Griffis Fish Camp on the Suwannee River
Also this December we’re having a chainsaw cleanup on the Withlacoochee River in Georgia.
To begin the New Year, swim with us on Iche Nippy Dip Day on the Ichetucknee River in Florida, and then paddle down the river.
In September, join us for the second annual WWALS River Revue sit-down fundraising dinner with new songs in the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, 5-8 PM, Saturday, September 7, 2024, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia. Continue reading
Update 2023-12-19: Valdosta reports to GA-EPD about two recent sewage spills 2023-12-02.
Update 2023-12-15: This spill finally showed up in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report of 2023-12-12; see Yet another Valdosta E. Park Ave. sewage spill near Knights Creek 2023-12-11.
Update 2023-12-04: Added Valdosta Press Release.
After the recent rains, at least two houses on Pin Oak Circle at Lakeland Ave in Valdosta flooded again, attributed to a sewer leak by residents.
![[One Mile Branch crossing Pin Oak Circle in a floodplain and location maps]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-03--pin-oak-circle-sewage-one-mile-branch/many.jpg)
One Mile Branch crossing Pin Oak Circle in a floodplain and location maps
Valdosta Acting Utilities Director Jason Barnes just now on the telephone said it was caused by a piece of asphalt stuck in the sewer line. It took Utilities about an hour and 15 minutes Saturday to get it out. He did not know how it got there; maybe from previous street resurfacing. They will be doing further work today. He alerted GA-EPD Saturday, and is working on a press release this morning. It will be a spill, but probably not a major spill.
WWALS member Suzy Hall found this spill in a WALB TV story (see below). I located it by looking up the names from the story in the Lowndes County Tax Assessors Map.
One Mile Branch runs through their back yards, and we’ve seen flooding problems there before. Continue reading
Update 2023-12-08: Clean Santa Fe River 2023-12-06.
Live Oak, Florida, was much faster in reporting its Friday sewage spill than was Ashburn, Georgia, in reporting its Sunday-before-last spill.
Probably neither of these spills had any noticeable effect on the nearby Little or Suwannee Rivers, and certainly not on the far-downstream Withlacoochee River.
For more about WWALS water quality testing, see https://wwals.net/issues/testing.
![[Ashburn, GA, and Live Oak, FL, sewage spills]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-12-01--ashburn-ga-live-oak-fl-sewage-spills/many.jpg)
Ashburn, GA, and Live Oak, FL, sewage spills
Ashburn, Georgia, spilled 2,000 gallons on November 19, reported on November 28, into Ashburn Branch, which ends up in the Little River far upstream from Tifton. Continue reading
It was a good time at the WWALS booth at the Brooks County Skillet Festival.
![[Collage @ Brooks County Skillet Festival 2023-10-21]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-10-21--brooks-county-skillet-fest-pictures/many.jpg)
Collage @ Brooks County Skillet Festival 2023-10-21
Thanks to Jan Powell, Kimberly Tanner, and her Brazilian exchange student for assisting WWALS E.D. Gretchen Quarterman and Suwannee Riverkeeper John S. Quarterman at the WWALS booth.
Quitman is on Okapilco Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee, and, upstream, the Little River form the east border of Brooks County with Lowndes County.
There are more pictures below.
For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading
Update 2024-02-22: Slight update on this Consent Order in Valdosta Boone Drive and Knob Hill small sewage spills 2024-02-20.
Thanks to Scotti Jay Jones for discovering and photographing a fish kill on One Mile Branch a year ago, and for taking water quality samples. Thanks to Sara Jay Jones for plating those samples. Suwannee Riverkeeper reported all that to GA-EPD.
One year later, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD), levied a Consent Order on the City of Valdosta for that fish kill and various sewage spills.
![[IG: Sara and Scotti Jay Jones, the GA-EPD Consent Order, location map, and fish kill]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2023-09-23--scotti-sara-consent-order/igmany.jpg)
IG: Sara and Scotti Jay Jones, the GA-EPD Consent Order, location map, and fish kill
Maybe that Consent Order and its requirements for Standard Operating Procedures will help prevent sewage spills from getting into One Mile Branch, Hightower Creek, and Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River, as well as into Knights Creek into Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. There have also been many personnel changes in the Valdosta City government, and the current Acting Utilities Director so far seems like a big improvement.
And you can join Scotti and Sara and WWALS at Iche Nippy Dip Day Swim and Paddle, Ichetucknee River, Ichetucknee Headspring, 2024-01-06.
Below are links and snippets for previous WWALS blog posts during that year. Continue reading
![[Withlacoochee River labeled Suwanee R. in 1823 Irwin and 1834 Lowndes County maps; current WWALS Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail map]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/1889-01-29--troupville/many.jpg)